Events

[POP] It’s been a busy few years for Kentucky-born Joan Osborne, beginning with the success of her interpretative blues homage, Bring It On Home, which featured gritty covers of tunes written by Ike Turner, Allen Toussaint, John Mayall and Otis Redding. The collection achieved accolades galore, nominated for a 2013 Grammy—one of her seven total nominations. In 2014 she released Love and Hate, a pledge-supported collection of new material that’d been in the works for years, in addition to the debut set from Trigger Hippy. A rotating collective of session musicians, former Black Crowes, and, for a bit, Widespread Panic’s Jimmy Herring, Trigger Hippy provides a fantastic vehicle for Osborne’s restrained, soulful rasp and groove-centric spirit, placing her in a classic-rock setting that’s infused with a southern sensibilities. Their debut, which also largely features guitarist Jackie Greene, might be the most satisfying rock album she’s ever made. Then last fall, her multi-platinum breakthrough disc Relish celebrated its 20th anniversary with the expanded/deluxe treatment, including a 2xLP version, outtakes, and a demo of the Eric Bazilian-penned “One of Us,” which hit #4 back in 1995. A high-profile tour with Mavis Staples followed, but Osborne has stayed on the road one way or another throughout most of her career, doing a memorable stint with the Grateful Dead and appearing with Motown’s The Funk Brothers along the way. Despite these amazing opportunities, she’s been very forthcoming about feeling ill-at-ease with fame. When her follow-up to Relish failed to attract the same amount of attention as its predecessor, she said she was relieved. Since then, she’s recorded at her own pace and has kept her core audience close. For her show in Niagara Falls Friday night, January 29 at the Bear’s Den, Osborne continues supporting Love and Hate in a duo format with keyboardist Kevin Cotton, performing pared-down originals from throughout her career along with cherry-picked covers.